That’s an over-simplification of legislation being proposed in the state House of Representatives, but it’s still the bottom line.

Now, a person has to be 21 to legally consume alcohol in this state — at least in most situations. Under the legislation being considered, those who are under 21 could have a drink in a restaurant where alcohol is served, so long as the minor is with a parent.

Bars would still be off-limits.

This is a case in which changing attitudes about alcohol use among a generation now of parental age clashes with decades of efforts to stem the problem of underage drinking.

We’re certainly not advocating mandatory teetotalism and have even been known to enjoy a glass of wine at dinner or a nice frosty beer after a summer day of working outdoors.

Still, we can’t help but worry about the direction the state would be moving with legislation.

For years, tons of money have been poured into both education and enforcement of laws designed to keep children away from alcohol.

Illinois is among 31 states in which parents can legally serve alcohol to their underage children in the privacy of their own home. That’s an important caveat, because it avoids any shades of gray.

House Bill 494 — which is now in the Tourism, Hospitality & Craft Industries Committee — would amend the Liquor Control Act of 1934. It would allow the possession and consumption of alcoholic liquor by someone under 21 on premises where a restaurant is operated and the sale of alcohol is not the principal business, so long as the minor “is under the direct supervision and approval of his or her parents or parent or those persons standing in loco parentis of the person under 21 years of age.”

It’s an idea taken from our neighbors to the north, Wisconsin, which has for years allowed children as young as 15 to have a beer or glass of wine so long as a parent is present.

Wisconsin has to follow the National Minimum Drinking Age Act or risk losing a large chunk of federal highway funds, but it has no state minimum drinking age. What it does have is the highest numbers of binge drinkers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — defined as four or more drinks at once for a woman, five or more at one sitting for a man. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health says Wisconsin residents are also more likely to drive while intoxicated. Fatalities from drunken driving are also regularly higher in the state.

Perhaps it’s not the best role model when it comes to drinking laws.

There are plenty of people who would cite the standby generality that kids are going to drink anyway, so why not at least do it with a parent present. Others will question what big difference a swig of wine at dinner time is going to make or point to places such as Germany and France, which have more relaxed rules on teenagers and drinking.

There have been a number of studies — among them ones by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center or the University of Florida at Gainesville — that show the more permissive parents are about alcohol, including drinking in the presence of a parent, the more likely a child is to binge drink. In many cases, the likelihood triples the older a teen becomes.

The idea to change the reasonable restrictions in place to stem some of the problem of underage drinking seems to gloss over a deeper impact with an “everybody’s doing it” reasoning.